You guys, I totally forgot to do ducklips in those photos! ;D I feel twice as big as that, waddling around with achy hips (they just get sore at night, pretty much) and struggling to pick things up off the floor.

Good spot with the kids jumping in the background -- I was so afraid they were going to fall on my bump while I was in bed because all they did was jump on the bed, unless they were standing by the window with no pants, watching the buses go by.

Finally catching up on this thread. Between having the flu and strep at the same time I was a little behind. So fun to hear all the updates and see the bumps!

I have my glucose test tomorrow. Hopefully the fact that I have been eating nothing but carbs all weekend won't affect it too much. I'm also halfway through my hypnobirthing classes. My instructor is great. She has had 5 kids and each birth was different, some at the hospital, some at home, some induced some not, one with an epidural, one or two? with hypnobirthing etc etc so she really believes in the whole "prepare and plan for what you want, but things can go differently and that is okay" philosophy.

The other part of my appointment tomorrow is paying my doctor bill. I really hate that part of this whole process. I know people need to be paid and all, but it's still crazy that I'm supposed to decide on my payment plan 3 months before the baby is even here.

because all they did was jump on the bed, unless they were standing by the window with no pants, watching the buses go by.

ahahaha! That's so funny and adorable!

Somehow I'm 37 weeks now. Super weird to think that I could go into labour at any time - it makes me want to be in a constant state of well-restedness and positivity at all times, juuuust in case. I'm looking forward to not being pregnant anymore (sleeping on my back! eating spicy food! remembering things! etc), and also to becoming a mother! Wheeee!

Oh annamal, my memory is so much worse now than when I was pregnant and I haven't eaten anything super-spicy for so long. First it was hard to get out of the house and I was concerned about it affecting my breastmilk, and since she was 5 months old, she swipes whatever I'm eating. She ended up with a bit of curry once and went bright red and couldn't stop crying.

I had a list of foods I was going to eat at 40 weeks to bring on labor, but I never made it there.

Congratulations on being near the end! I hope you enjoy the last few weeks, and if you make it to 40 weeks, eat tons of yummy spicy food!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Yeah for sleeping on your back again! I know I was looking most forward to sleeping on my stomach, totally not realizing that when you are breastfeeding that (at least for me) will mean laying in a pool of milk all night, but sleeping on my back was pretty awesome after so long of just side sleeping.

I agree with Tofu that my memory has not come back to full capacity. I asked my midwife when my memory would be back to normal and she kindly said, "Never." !!!!

Yeah for sleeping on your back again! I know I was looking most forward to sleeping on my stomach, totally not realizing that when you are breastfeeding that (at least for me) will mean laying in a pool of milk all night, but sleeping on my back was pretty awesome after so long of just side sleeping.

I agree with Tofu that my memory has not come back to full capacity. I asked my midwife when my memory would be back to normal and she kindly said, "Never." !!!!

ugh, my memory. or "mom-ory" har har. it sucks. it got better when tzipi was about 18 months, but now it's terrible again. i leave things EVERYWHERE. i have lost my favourite sweater, my baby wrap, tzipi's favourite dress, cloth diapers and covers, all in the last 2 months. it's freaking ridiculous. i have a to-do list that i follow every day. it reminds me, no joke, to do the dishes, scoop the cat litter and do a load of laundry.

i am getting to sleep on my stomach again though, provided the baby will give me the room.

Oh yeah, I remember feeling so great the morning after birth, mostly because I could lie on my back without feeling like I was suffocating to death, and no more heartburn. So awesome.

Chiveggie, glad to hear you've recovered from strep and flu! What a nasty combination when you're pregnant. I swear pregnancy destroys my immune system-- I've gotten sick so so much more than I normally do.

I'm at 34 weeks here, and other than a premature labor scare that just turned out to be an irritable uterus, I'm doing fairly well. I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that these babies are almost certainly going to enter the world via c-section since they are both still breech. Oh, and to make things a bit worse, my platelet counts were low, so there's even a small chance I can't have an epidural (or spinal) and will require general anesthesia for that c-section. Sigh. There's a large part of me that just wants to throw a tantrum about how it's just not fair-- so many people have easier 2nd births, and here I am with breech twins that require a c-section and the possibility of needing general anesthesia. Oh well. I just had another platelet count done, so hopefully that will come back high enough that I can at least not have to worry about needing general anesthesia.

Helbury, I hope your platelets will be ok! I will tell you my platelet anecdote, which is that mine dropped dramatically in both my pregnancies to the point where they were low but not dangerous... and then around 36 or 37 weeks they just stopped there. My OB made me have them tested like 3 more times afterwards, but they just got low and stayed low. It can happen!

Uh oh, I'm doomed! I've literally been forgetting to check my to-do list, which contains items like "respond to email." If this is my new normal I'm going to amaze people with my flakiness. Fortunately, I'll forget to care :)

Helbury, UGH. That sucks and isn't fair. I hope your birth goes as well as it can despite not being what you had envisioned. I knew a woman with low platelets who gave birth via c-section under general (a singleton who wouldn't budge) and she ended up being really happy and at peace with her birth experience - I think because it all happened calmly and she felt in control and respected the whole time. I hope the same for you!

Helbury, UGH. That sucks and isn't fair. I hope your birth goes as well as it can despite not being what you had envisioned. I knew a woman with low platelets who gave birth via c-section under general (a singleton who wouldn't budge) and she ended up being really happy and at peace with her birth experience - I think because it all happened calmly and she felt in control and respected the whole time. I hope the same for you!

Yeah, I am hoping to get to that point too! I'm not always so good at making peace with things I can't change, but I'm working on it :-). It's a good life skill to have anyway.....

Refinnej, from the reading I've done, it doesn't seem there's much one can do in terms of home remedies for low platelet counts. The only suggestions I've found are to make sure you don't take ibuprofen (and other NSAIDs, I think) or drink alcohol, but they are both not recommended during pregnancy anyways, so no help there.

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

umm holy moley crepe!! i just weighed myself and i have gained 7 LBS since the last time i weighed myself which i thought was just last week but im not sure that's physically possible!!what the fizzle!!!!i know i have no room to complain after gaining like 3 lbs for the first 6 months but that scale sure was a shocker today!

Helbury ive heard people say you can try acupuncture to flip a breech baby. not sure if it would work for TWO babies but it might be worth a try???? good luck!

i know i have no room to complain after gaining like 3 lbs for the first 6 months but that scale sure was a shocker today!

Whoa! Dang, girl. I think I gained 3 pounds just in bloat when I was only about 5-6 weeks along!!! I've already gained nearly a stone (and had put on over a stone and a half at this point with my other pregnancies!).

Also, Helbury, I know a c-section totally sucks, but I secretly think it would be totally worth it for twins, even though I'd still rather not have one. And I heard if you've already had a v-birth, most people will let you do a VBAC, so you will be able to do that the next time. That said, I'm sending spinning baby thoughts your way!!! Spin babies, spin!!!

umm holy moley crepe!! i just weighed myself and i have gained 7 LBS since the last time i weighed myself which i thought was just last week but im not sure that's physically possible!!what the fizzle!!!!i know i have no room to complain after gaining like 3 lbs for the first 6 months but that scale sure was a shocker today!

Helbury ive heard people say you can try acupuncture to flip a breech baby. not sure if it would work for TWO babies but it might be worth a try???? good luck!

In my last six weeks of pregnancy I gained 30 pounds! It was insane. I wasn't eating like crazy or anything either. Grey was an intense nurser and he wanted to be outside all the time and I ended up waking a million miles with him, so I think my body was preparing for all the activity! And yay! Third trimester!

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

littlebear wrote:

LisaPunk wrote:

umm holy moley crepe!! i just weighed myself and i have gained 7 LBS since the last time i weighed myself which i thought was just last week but im not sure that's physically possible!!what the fizzle!!!!i know i have no room to complain after gaining like 3 lbs for the first 6 months but that scale sure was a shocker today!

Helbury ive heard people say you can try acupuncture to flip a breech baby. not sure if it would work for TWO babies but it might be worth a try???? good luck!

Oh yeah, sorry but here's my anecdote too: with both kids, I lost weight thr first trimester. With E I gained a reasonable 10 or 15 in the second trimester... And then another 40some in the last trimester for a total of 55 by the time he was born. Part of that was that I ate a lot of crappy food and stopped exercising! Or so I thought...

When I was pregnant with M, I kept exercising the whole time, biking 8 miles a day every weekday plus walking etc. I ate healthily and actually tracked my food intake. I STILL gained 53 lbs before he was born.

(But, the happy part of the anecdote is that both times, I lost all the weight within a year postpartum. I actually weigh 15 or 20 lbs less now than I did before becoming pregnant the first time.)

I will share my weight gain story because maybe it will inspire? I gained 50 lbs in pregnancy 30 of which were packed on in the first trimester and 7 in the third. So the last trimester isn't necessarily going to be a huge weight gain. 6 months post-partum without ANY diet or exercise I have lost 40 of the 50 lbs (I am breastfeeding though which I am sure is helping.) I am planning to start some exercising on a regular basis...sometime...

It's crazy the ways different bodies change with pregnancy. I am not a fan of scales at the best of times, so I have no idea what my pre-pregnancy weight was, and I was never weighed during my pregnancy either so I have no idea what I gained. I can definitely tell there's still some hanging around, but it's only been four weeks and for the first couple we didn't get out much so hopefully now that we are going for walks every day my belly will get a bit more back to 'normal' [whatever my new normal will be!]